Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to safeguard Parliamentary sovereignty and Ministerial accountability following the passage of the Budget Responsibility Bill, given that it will provide expanded powers to the Office of Budget Responsibility.

The Budget Responsibility Bill will support transparency and accountability, by ensuring that significant fiscal announcements are always subject to independent scrutiny.

Parliament will remain sovereign: the legislation which sets out the legal framework will be taken through the House of Commons for approval, as will the Charter for Budget Responsibility which will set out the technical details. The Bill makes no changes to existing parliamentary scrutiny of Government tax and spending decisions.